Lincoln Day Dinner: 'Take back the state'

Morgan County Republicans hear from local, state and national officials at annual event

By Kara Morgan

The Fort Morgan Times

Posted:
02/19/2019 09:52:20 PM MST

The Morgan County Republicans heard from their new party chair, Vivianne Lorenzini, on Monday evening at the annual Lincoln Day Dinner. (Kara Morgan / The Fort Morgan Times)

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner addresses the Morgan County Republicans at their Lincoln Day Dinner on Monday evening. (Kara Morgan / The Fort Morgan Times)

Morgan County Republicans came together Monday evening for their annual Lincoln Day Dinner, honoring Republican President Abraham Lincoln.

Now led by Chair Vivianne Lorenzini, the county Republicans heard from a range of speakers, from the local, state and national levels.

On Tuesday, Lorenzini said they were grateful to hear from representatives and for the about 100 people who attended the event. Though she did not have the fundraising totals on Tuesday, she thanked those who supported the party through the raffle tickets, dinner tickets, donations and auction.

The audience heard from U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, Dusty Johnson a representative for U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, state Rep. Rod Pelton and state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, among others.

State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg addresses the challenges of serving as a minority party in the Colorado Assembly on Monday. (Kara Morgan / The Fort Morgan Times)

The event was well-attended by local and county officials, including all three county commissioners: Mark Arndt, Jon Becker and Jim Zwetzig. Former Morgan County Assessor Bob Wooldridge attended and was recognized. Current Assessor Tim Amen, Coroner Don Heer and Treasurer Bob Sagel attended, as well.

Fort Morgan Mayor Ron Shaver, City Manager Jeff Wells and former City Councilman Dan Marler attended. Marler also serves as the local party's treasurer.

As Lorenzini highlighted in the meeting, the Morgan County Republican Women sold jewelry as a fundraiser and the Colorado Dairy Women donated cheese and other items for appetizers.

As the social hour wound down, the crowd heard Jerry Wathen play the piano.

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U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner

Gardner first addressed the crowd, as one of the more hopeful voices of the speakers at Monday's dinner.

"We've got fighting to do, don't we?" Gardner asked the crowd.

"We've got work to do. We've got winning to do and we've got a country to save," he added, to some scattered 'yes' replies in the audience.

Gardner addressed the challenges of the local and state government. To the recently-elected state Rep. Rod Pelton of House District 65, Gardner said: "Rod, thank you for standing strong in the state legislature."

State Rep. Rod Pelton, in his first few months of service, says this week he came up on his one-year anniversary of beginning his run for the seat. He thanked the crowd for their support. (Kara Morgan / The Fort Morgan Times)

Gardner asked the audience to give Pelton a round of applause for his state-level work, and the audience complied.

Gardner described his opposition to the state-level National Popular Vote Bill (SB19-042), which passed in the Colorado Senate in January and passed Feb. 12 in the State, Veterans, & Military Affairs Committee in the Colorado House.

The Colorado General Assembly summary of the proposed bill says it would have Colorado join an "agreement among the states to elect the president of the United States by national popular vote."

John Koza, chairman of the National Popular Vote nonprofit, said in a press release that they believed this bill would be "making every voter in every state politically relevant in every presidential election."

This year was a reorganizational year for the Morgan County Republicans. Former Secretary Nancy Cable, left, welcomed the new and continuing chair members on the right. (Kara Morgan / The Fort Morgan Times)

Gardner argued on Monday evening that this would actually decrease the power of the state's 'voice' on a national level.

"The presidential candidate who Colorado didn't vote for, may actually get Coloradans' electoral votes. Can you imagine that?" Gardner asked. Audience members responded with 'no's.

The bill will go next to be voted on by the Colorado House of Representatives.

Gardner brought up a common theme of the evening: 'government overreach.'

"You've got people on the federal level telling you what kind of car to drive, what kind of energy to use."

"They're going so far to the left, that they're going to try to remodel your home for you, whether you want it or not, and they're going to pay the 'unwilling to work'," Gardner added.

The Morgan County Republicans thank former assessor Bob Wooldridge, left, for his 28 years of service. (Kara Morgan / The Fort Morgan Times)

Gardner concluded with a call to action for county Republicans: "We have a challenge in this country. We have a challenge in this state. But there's one thing that won't happen if we don't fight. We won't win elections if we're not willing to stand up in Morgan County or across the state and fight."

"The only way we're going to win elections in this state and this country, if people in rural America stand up for the values that we believe in: liberty, opportunity, those freedoms that Jon [Becker] talked about in his prayer," Gardner continued.

"We have to be optimistic about it. We have to be excited to be Republican and the values that we share. We have to take pride in the fact that we believe in limited government, opportunity and freedom. That we stand up for lower taxes, for reduced regulations. That, yes, we stand up for security at our borders. Those are the things that we believe in."

Gardner then went to a more positive note to highlight national-level Republican wins.

"What do Republicans believe in? Look what we have done. We have put constitutional judges on the Supreme Court and throughout the courts system," he began.

"We have reduced taxes with the most historic tax cuts in 30 years. Reduced regulations by $80 billion. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in this country's history."

Gardner added: "We have more Hispanics working, more African Americans working, with unemployment rates we simply haven't seen in this country before."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the national unemployment rate is at 4 percent, as of January 2019. The last time they have listed a rate that low was in July 2000, though it lists rates in the 4 percent range in the mid-2000s, 2006, 2007 and around 4.9 in January 2016.

Gardner concluded with his call to action to the county Republicans.

"If we just sit back, and do nothing, and not raise our voices up and not let them be heard, then you'll see the Colorado legislature continue its move to the left. You'll see the U.S. Congress and the House [of Representatives] continue to move to the left."

"We can't sit idly by. We have to work, we have to fight, we have to win. Our country's future is at stake. It's who we are," he said.

State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg

Sonnenberg thanked those who came to the dinner and said he enjoyed being around this community of "God's people." He began the evening at Akron's event, where Gardner headed after his speech in Morgan County.

Sonnenberg came in with a strong statement on the state of the Colorado General Assembly in Denver: "I say that because, quite honestly it's 'evil' in Denver. What we're going though is just plain evil."

Sonnenberg said it was important for the Republican party to ensure the state does not see the government "destroy family values" and the "erosion of our rural values."

"We have more money again this year, and Democrats want to spend every penny," Sonnenberg added.

As Gardner did, Sonnenberg described similar opposition to the national popular vote bill and the comprehensive human sexuality education bill.

Sonnenberg also brought up his opposition to the HB18-1436 Extreme Risk Protection Orders Bill, also known as the 'Red Flag' bill.

The state general assembly website describes the legislation: "The bill creates the ability for a family or household member or a law enforcement officer to petition the court for a temporary extreme risk protection order (ERPO)."

As Sonnenberg highlighted, the ERPO could prevent that family member from acquiring or keeping their firearm.

Sonnenberg said he saw this bill as a "gun grab." He opposed the potential for a person to "have to prove your innocence to get your guns," Sonnenberg said. He said he believed for veterans who seek mental health support, this bill could allow family members to get their guns taken from them.

Moving forward, Sonnenberg said his focus is "funding for education" and "salaries for teachers," though he expressed his opposition to the proposals of the teachers' unions.

Sonnenberg said he believed the state needed to work on their retention of teachers.

"Our current retention plan is, bring young teachers to [Eastern] Colorado and get them to marry a farmer," Sonnenberg joked.

Sonnenberg thanked the audience for their support and said: "I'm proud to be your [state] senator. I can't thank you enough for your support."

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck

Area Representative Dusty Johnson represented U.S. Rep. Ken Buck from the U.S. House.

Johnson highlighted some of the challenges in the House of Representatives after losing the majority vote in the 2018 election and Buck's continued support of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump's border wall.

Johnson said Rep. Buck finds challenges in getting fellow representatives to listen to him because of the 'R' in front of his name, due to reported 'political games'.

Comparing these challenges with those on the state level for Republicans, Johnson continued: "We just need to get our voices heard. Be well-mannered, respectful and just friendly while we do this."

Recognizing the impact of the 35-day government shutdown on federal workers, Johnson mentioned the current "state of national emergency for border security."

Johnson says Buck is still a "huge supporter of the wall," and said he describes it this way: "We need to, as he says, fix the leak in the boat, instead of just dumping all of the buckets of water out of the boat and not fixing the leak."

Johnson also highlighted several bills the congressman is working on, including the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (H.R. 1044) introduced this month by Buck and Democratic U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren from California.

Johnson described this bill as a 'bipartisan' effort that would eliminate 'arbitrary' per-county limits on employee-based visas. Johnson said they are off to a good start, with already 112 sponsors so far.

"We're hoping to see this as one of the starting points to getting visa talks and reform on the table, " Johnson added.

Johnson also highlighted a water legislation act Buck has worked toward, reportedly for his last three terms: "more affordable water for ranchers and farmers, by allowing water municipality storage companies to keep their tax-exempt bracket, even if they receive profit from non-members."

Along with those initiatives, Johnson said another goal of Buck's office moving forward is to consider the health-care challenges and needs of their constituents.

State Rep. Rod Pelton

State Rep. Rod Pelton, elected this past November, said he was coming up on his one-year-anniversary of his announcement last year to run for the state representative position.

Pelton highlighted, as Gardner did, the challenges of serving as the minority party in the state congress.

Pelton said he has already experienced "over-reach" by the Democratic party. Pelton, among other speakers, expressed his vehement opposition to the comprehensive sex education bill.

HB19-1032, the Comprehensive Human Sexuality Education bill, proposes content requirements for public schools for 'comprehensive human sexuality education,' according to the bill description on the Colorado General Assembly website.

Part of the proposal is to: "prohibit instruction from explicitly or implicitly teaching or endorsing religious ideology or sectarian tenets or doctrines, using shame-based or stigmatizing language or instructional tools, employing gender norms or gender stereotypes, or excluding the relational or sexual experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals."

Pelton urged his constituents to contact him if they have concerns about anything about the work of the state legislature.

As a member of the 'minority' party, Pelton says he tries to "shine the light" on issues as he sees them. Having feedback from his constituents, he says, helps him bring that to the legislature.

Pelton said to the crowd: "We gotta take this state back."

Lincoln history

Nancy Cable, in one of her final duties as secretary of the Morgan County Republicans, gave some history related to the life and political history of former Republican President Abraham Lincoln.

"He successfully led his country through a constitutional, military and moral crisis: the American Civil War," Cable highlighted. "Preserving the union, while ending slavery and promoting economic and financial modernization."

After running through his political career, Cable discussed Lincoln's reported mastery of the Bible and its connections to his public speaking and choices.

"Lincoln has been consistently ranked by scholars and the public as one of the three greatest presidents in the United States," Cable said.

Cable called on the audience to take inspiration from the image of Lincoln she described.

"May this country and may every one of us, hold out the freedom that we have and the opportunity that we have to read the Bible everyday, and to gain the wisdom that we need, to take this country, this nation, to lift up our president and for our own lives to be changed," Cable concluded

Additional business

Since this was a re-organizational year, new Morgan County Republican Central Committee Chairman Vivianne Lorenzini highlighted the outgoing and incoming officers, including Chairman Jackie Neb and Secretary Nancy Cable.

Lorenzini recognized retired assessor Bob Wooldridge and former county commissioner Laura Teague. Teague was not present, but Wooldridge thanked the crowd. Of his 28 years of service as county assessor, Wooldridge said: "It's been a pleasure."

Lorenzini also recognized the work of precinct committee chairs and the Morgan County Republican Women for helping to 'get out the vote,' including, Charlene Holzworth, chairman; Cathy Cole-Geist, first vice chairman; Joan Frick, second vice chairman; Fay Johnson, secretary; and Kay McMillan, treasurer.

Local auctioneer Chuck Miller attempted to liven up the evening when he came in to start the auction. From a cow kicker, to a semi-automatic rifle, to a framed U.S. flag, to cheese, the Republican Party raised funds with a range of donated items.

To attendees and other members, Lorenzini said: "Thank you for working with the Morgan County Republicans to get Republicans elected and help us have a say in the state."

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